A WOMAN'S WORK IS NEVER DONE, A HISTORY OF HOUSEWORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES 1650 – 1950

 Caroline Davidson

 Chatto & Windus 1982.

The majority of women throughout history have spent their lives doing housework. No other occupation employs half the population or makes such an immediate impact on people’s way of life. Yet the history of housework has been virtually ignored.

 Caroline Davidson’s pioneering book is a study of domestic life in Britain, the first country in the world to experience the effects of rapid urban and industrial growth. She discusses the development of the three utilities affecting domestic life – water, gas ans electricity. She then describes in detail the most important household tasks that women did between 1650 and 1950: cooking, heating, lighting, cleaning and laundry. Further chapters are devoted to domestic servants, the time women spent on housework and the amount of help and, finally, women’s attitudes to their chief occupation.

The author has drawn on an extraordinary wide variety of sources, provides an extensive bibliography and includes over a hundred illustrations, most of which have never been reproduced before.

The book provides a stimulating and entertaining account of the housewives changing and entertaining account of the housewife’s changing (and unchanging) status, as well as a unique insight into three centuries of life in the British Isles.

 Other than for the fact that it has been price clipped, both the book and the dust jacket are in good condition. The pages are clean and tightly bound. The book is heavy, over a kilo when packed, surface or parcel post might be a consideration